Does President Trump need to fire more Cabinet members?

WEST MEMPHIS | Two Arkansas police officers were fatally shot Thursday during a traffic stop, and a short time later, the suspects were killed in a separate shootout with the local sheriff and a deputy, authorities said.

The sheriff and chief deputy were wounded in the shootout in a Wal-Mart parking lot in West Memphis and were taken to a hospital, authorities said.

The situation began when the two West Memphis police officers were pulling over a white van on Interstate 40. It was not clear why they pulled over the van with Ohio license plates and what led to the fatal shootings of the officers.

The two West Memphis police officers killed were Brandon Paudert and Bill Evans. Officer Paudert is the son of West Memphis Police Chief Bob Paudert and was assigned to the police department’s drug unit, Chief Paudert said.

CALIFORNIA

Armstrong denies new doping accusations

VISALIA | Lance Armstrong has denied allegations made by disgraced American cyclist Floyd Landis, who accused the seven-time Tour de France champion of doping.

“It’s our word against his word,” Mr. Armstrong said in Visalia before the fifth stage of the Tour of California. “I like our word. We like our credibility.”

With his longtime coach, Johan Bruyneel, standing next to him, Mr. Armstrong said Mr. Landis seemingly pointed the finger at everyone still involved in the sport.

“We have nothing to hide,” Mr. Armstrong said. “We have nothing to run from.”

Mr. Landis was stripped of his 2006 Tour de France title for doping, yet always denied cheating until now. He recently sent e-mails to cycling officials and sponsors detailing his blood doping. He also claimed that Mr. Armstrong and Mr. Bruyneel paid an International Cycling Union official to cover up a test in 2002 after Mr. Armstrong purportedly tested positive for the blood-boosting drug EPO.

In an e-mail Mr. Landis sent to USA Cycling chief Steve Johnson, he said Mr. Armstrong’s positive EPO test was in 2002, about the time he won the Tour de Suisse. Mr. Armstrong won the Tour de Suisse in 2001, not 2002.

COLORADO

Dad of missing hiker finds her laptop

DENVER | The father of a Colorado woman who disappeared while hiking in Nepal has found her laptop and journal in the last hotel where she stayed.

A friend of missing hiker Aubrey Sacco told the Associated Press on Thursday that the 23-year-old’s father, Paul Sacco, is in Nepal looking for her. Miss Sacco has been missing since last month, when she left for a solo hike in the Himalayan mountains.

The family friend, Aileen Barry, said Mr. Sacco found some personal items belonging to his Miss Sacco at the last hotel where she stayed. Miss Barry said Mr. Sacco also has met with officials from the U.S. Embassy, but that no more clues have been found to indicate what happened to his daughter.

MASSACHUSETTS

Phone links suspects in Times Square plot

BOSTON | A government attorney said a Pakistani man arrested in Massachusetts during the investigation into the failed Times Square bomb plot had the primary suspect’s phone number.

Richard Neville, deputy chief counsel for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, told a judge in Boston that Aftab Khan had in his belongings an envelope with Faisal Shahzad’s first name on it. He said the envelope also had a phone number that investigators have concluded is Mr. Shahzad’s.

Mr. Neville said Mr. Khan also had a cell phone containing Mr. Shahzad’s phone number and first name. He said the items were found in Mr. Khan’s Watertown, Mass., apartment.

Mr. Neville also said at Thursday’s immigration hearing that Mr. Khan had moved his June 6 flight to Pakistan to May 13, the day he was arrested.

MICHIGAN

Detroit mayor calls violence ‘demoralizing’

BIRMINGHAM | Detroit Mayor Dave Bing said Thursday that the city has no answer to the recent spike in violence that has left at least 12 people dead, including a patrolman, two teenage boys, a grandmother, the adult son of another police officer, and a 7-year-old girl.

“It’s very demoralizing, very painful. … Don’t know how to stop it, quite frankly,” Mr. Bing told a group of area business and elected leaders Thursday during an annual political forum in the suburban community of Birmingham.

Tension after a Detroit police officer accidentally shot second-grader Aiyana Stanley-Jones during a raid early Sunday morning continues to hang over the city.

Police have said the officer’s gun discharged inside the house after he was jostled by, or collided with, the girl’s grandmother.

An attorney for the family has filed two lawsuits in the case and claims the shot was fired from outside on the porch.

MISSISSIPPI

Lesbian finds new school after lawsuit

JACKSON | The lesbian who sued her rural school district over its ban of same-sex prom dates has transferred to a school in Mississippi’s capital.

Constance McMillen told the Associated Press on Thursday that she now attends a high school in Jackson, about 180 miles from Itawamba Agricultural High School in Fulton.

Constance filed a federal lawsuit against the Itawamba County School District in March over the district’s decision to cancel the prom rather than allow her to bring her girlfriend. Afterward, she said she faced hostility.

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